[title type="h3"]Chef Paul Leaves Us With A Good Taste In Our Mouths[/title] This morning, Channel Four reports that Chef Paul Prudhomme has passed away at seventy-five. A book could be written about his influence on the New Orleans, Louisiana, American and world cuisines. In his prime in the early 1980s, there was no chef whose fame exceeded his. Nor was there ever a time when, in his reflected starshine, Cajun and Creole food was held in greater regard. To dine at his restaurant K-Paul's Louisiana Kitchen required a long wait in a line that went to the end of the block and turned left. Thirty years after its publication, his first cookbook Chef Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen remains among the best-selling cookbooks in the world--to say nothing of the many great books he wrote afterwards. His Creole-Cajun seasonings are among the best-selling in the business, and set the standard for many of them. But for all that, Chef Paul's greatest achievement was in changing the way American people--especially young adults--looked upon the restaurant industry. Chef Paul changed the image of a cook from just a a job into a career. Of course, he himself was the best illustration of the possibilities. He grew up in a large, poor Cajun family and turned himself into a world-class chef. I have much more to say about Chef Paul in the coming days.
